Jacob’s father Simon, 42, a music tutor, told the Stockport hearing: “In the lounge there is a two seater and three seater sofa placed against the wall. In the early evening of August 11 I was out but my wife was with Jacob and our other son.

“They were playing with toys in the family room.

“Victoria went into the kitchen to finish of what she needed to do, the door was open and our son who is three tried to get her attention. She went to see what he wanted and could see that Jacob was trapped between the wall and the back of the sofa and his chin was trapped.

“He looked very grey and very ill. She tried helping and a builder heard her screaming. The emergency services were called and he was taken to hospital. Doctors told us very quickly that his chances of survival were very poor.”

Tests showed Jacob suffered a hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy where his brain was starved of oxygen.

Dr Stephen Playfor, consultant paediatric intensivist at Manchester Children’s Hospital said the youngster was already in cardiac arrest on arrival and the ambulance crew had given him five doses of adrenaline.

He said: “He was in cardiac arrest for at least 45 minutes duration. The outlook is usually pretty grim if they have been under cardiac arrest for that long. After such a long one (cardiac arrest) the outlook is extremely bleak and those that do make it will be terribly damaged.

“He was provided with an intensive bundle of medical interventions which is a range of medication to manage patients to reduce brain swelling.

“An MRI scan was also done which showed the extensive damage, consistent with a hypoxic incident where insufficient oxygen is passed to the brain. That was performed on the second day of admission. This showed us the outlook was very poor.

“When we stopped sedation he began to breath on his own but not very regularly. Then we had to have one of the most difficult conversations you can have with the family about turning the machines off.

“It was only after several days of further assessment that he was not improving anymore. The machines were stopped on August 20 and he died the following day.”

Coroners Officer Rita Wilkinson who investigated the tragedy told the inquest: “Two young children were at the address. The house was extremely tidy, a child friendly place and all that you needed to protect children were there.

“The sofa was very large and chunky. It was just a very child friendly environment. It appears that he went down the back of the sofa. There is an area on the back of the cushion that is imprinted. It is very difficult to understand what might have happened.

“Jacob’s admission to hospital was due to an accident and there is nothing that we found to change that conclusion.”

Recording an accidental death coroner John Pollard commended Mr Moore for his bravery and thanked him for giving the difficult evidence.

He said: “I think he and his brother were just playing like boys do and very sadly, completely without any possibility of foreseeing this happening it did. I don’t think anyone could see this happening and sadly it’s lead to this severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

“His heart stopped for so long, despite the efforts of your wife and the hospital staff. I think everyone had done absolutely everything they could. Pass my condolences to your wife I understand how dreadfully upsetting it must be. This was truly an accident and it was unforeseeable, an accident in nature.”

After the inquest, Mr Moore who also plays drums in a band: “Victoria is having good days and bad days, it’s more bad days. It was awful having to listen to all of what was said in the inquest, it brings it all back to me.”